Apparatus for conducting thermolysis of plastic waste in a continuous manner
View Patent ↗The invention provides an apparatus and method for thermolysis of waste plastic in which reaction residue and carbonization products are continuously removed. The apparatus includes a feeding system, an extruder, a reactor for thermolysis, a dual agitator housed within the reactor, a trigger system in operative connection with the reactor, a flux heater, and a collecting system in operative connection with the reactor. The reactor for thermolysis has a height at least 1.5 times bigger than a diameter. The trigger system includes a circulation pump and the collecting system has a three-way valve in an external circulation loop. The apparatus is arranged such that the extruder follows the feeding system, the reactor follows the extruder, the trigger system is at a bottom of the reactor, and the flux heater and collecting system follow the reactor.
1. An apparatus for conducting waste plastic thermolysis, the apparatus comprising:
a feeding system;
an extruder;
a reactor for thermolysis having a height at least 1.5 times bigger than a diameter;
a dual agitator housed within the reactor;
a trigger system in operative connection with the reactor, the trigger system having a circulation pump;
a flux heater; and
a collecting system in operative connection with the reactor, the collecting system having a three-way valve in an external circulation loop; wherein the apparatus is operatively arranged such that the extruder follows the feeding system, the reactor follows the extruder, the trigger system is at a bottom of the reactor, and the flux heater and collecting system follow the reactor.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reactor further comprises:
at least two vertical internal baffles.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the height of the reactor is two times bigger than the diameter.
4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an accessory agitator housed within the reactor.
5. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the trigger system further comprises an emergency trigger valve.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the agitator is a high speed mixer having propeller blades at different angles
and further comprises
a shaft, the shaft having stabilizing bars.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the agitator is calked by inert gas cooled by liquid.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reactor further comprises:
an inspection flange in a bottom part;
an internal anti-whirl device in the bottom part;
an outlet piece; or an inlet piece.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the apparatus comprises the outlet piece, the outlet piece including a sieve or filter.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an inlet piece from the extruder connecting to the reactor and an inlet piece from the circulation loop tangential to a reactor wall.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the inlet piece from the extruder is arranged below the inlet piece from the circulation loop.
12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the collecting system further comprises a residue cooling system and a residue tank.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the residue tank is cooled by current liquid.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the emergency trigger valve further comprises a drain mechanism.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the drain mechanism is a sealed hand drain bar.
16. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation pump is a vortex pump and is arranged following a filter.
17. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the flux heater is heated electrically.
18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the circulation pump is heated externally by an oil heating jacket and is calked by inert gas cooled by liquid.